Scarecrow
by Deansgirl95
Summary: When Sam & Dean separate b/c of the call from their dad, Sam asks Rachel to help his brother on the lastest hunt. Will they be able to do a job alone together and still fight their attraction for one another? Part 3 of my series, please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

Sam was laying on his twin mattress in the motel room wondering when sleep would find him when it happened. The dark room and Dean's peaceful snoring from the bed next to him where starting to take effect. His mind begin to shut down and he felt the first waves of slumber start to enfold him.

Then Dean's Phone rang on the night stand that separated the two beds. Sam, pulled from his almost sleep, waited for his brother to stir at the sound but he heard nothing but the continued snore. It rang again. Nothing from Dean once again.

"Dean." Sam said looking over to the other bed where his brother lay on his stomach in nothing but his boxer briefs.

Dean's eyelids didn't even flutter.

Sam reached over and picked the phone up. With out even looking at it he flipped it open just as the third ring sounded.

"Hello?" He said into the mouth piece.

"Sam, is that you?" The familiar voice said.

Sam's heart stopped in his chest. He hadn't heard that voice in years but he would know it anywhere. Granted, the last time he'd heard it it was angry and yelling, but he knew that the voice belonged to his father. Sam sat straight up in bed.

"Dad? Are you hurt?" Was the first thing he asked.

"I'm fine." His father's raspy voice answered back.

"We've been looking for you everywhere. We didn't know where you were, if you were okay." Sam gushed.

Everything that had been accumulating for the last 6 months coming into his head all at once.

"Sammy, I'm all right. What about you and Dean?" Dad asked.

Just then Sam heard Dean stir, sensing the importance of the call.

"We're fine. Dad, where are you?" Sam asked throwing Dean a glance and see him sit up on the edge of the bed and turn the lamp on.

"Sorry, kiddo, I can't tell you that." Dad said.

Anger erupted inside Sam. He wasn't going to tell them where he was? they spent the last 6 months looking for him just to be left hanging again?

"What? Why not?" Sam asked in a voice that betrayed his frustration.

"Is that Dad?" Dean asked, pulling a shirt over his head.

Sam didn't answer him but instead listened to what his father was saying on the other line.

"Look, I know this is hard for you to understand." Dad said, "You're just gonna have to trust me on this."

Sam's anger dissipated slightly as the realization set in. In turn his voice was much calmer on the next statement.

"You're after it, aren't you?" Sam almost whispered. "The thing that killed Mom."

"Yeah." Dad said after a pause "It's a demon, Sam."

"A demon? You know for sure?" Sam asked,

He couldn't help the flash of Jessica's beautiful face that rushed into his mind. Hell bent on finding the thing that killed her for a half a year now and here was his father saying that knew what it was. Sam's heart began to pound.

"A demon? What's he saying?" Dean asked, left out of the conversation.

Once again all Sam could do was just give him a glance then go on listening to his father.

"I do. Listen, Sammy, I, uh…I also know what happened to your girlfriend." Dad said on the phone. A slight pause, then he went on. "I'm so sorry. I would've done anything to protect you from that."

"You know where it is?" Sam asked, his voice clenching.

"Yeah, I think I'm finally closing in on it." Dad answered.

"Let us help." Sam said.

"You can't. You can't be any part of it."

"Why not?" Sam said, getting angry again. His father was NOT going to do this to him now. NOT this time.

"Give me the phone." Dean said, his hand out.

"Listen, Sammy, that's why I'm calling. You and your brother, you gotta stop looking for me." Dad said. "Alright, now, I need you to write down these names."

"Names?" Sam asked incredulously. "What names, Dad—talk to me, tell me what's going on."

"Look, we don't have time for this." Dad said, his own voice raising. "This is bigger than you think, they're everywhere. Even us talking right now, it's not safe."

Sam clenched his teeth and fought against rising bile in his throat. He could not let his father shut him out like this. Not when it was this important.

"No. Alright?" Sam said. "No way."

"Give me the phone." Dean repeated.

"I have given you an order." Dad yelled. "Now, you stop following me, and you do your job. You understand me? Now, take down these names."

Sam had just opened his mouth to begin the argument he'd been through a million times since he was old enough to realize that he didn't have to do everything that his father said just because he was his father. It was at that moment that Dean leaned over and took the phone from his hand. Sam let him, and watched as Dean spoke to his father for the first time in months.

"Dad, it's me. Where are you?" Dean asked, his brow furrowed with concern.

As Sam watched Dean listen to their father on the other end, his heart sank as his brothers face changed to that of what he would imagine was a soldier listening to his drill sergeant.

"Yes, sir." Dean said.

Sam's heart sank in his chest. He would get no help from Dean.

"Uh, yeah, I got a pen." Dean said, reaching for the pad in the drawer. "What are their names?"

JUST LIKE I NEVER LEFT. Sam thought as he bit into the soft flesh inside his cheek to fight back the tears of anger and frustration.


	2. Chapter 2

They were dressed and out the door by 2:00 am. Dean passed Sam the keys so that he could look through the names, pictures and obits they had printd out about the case.

Sam would have been surprised by Dean letting him drive the sacred Impala if he had been just a little less turned inside out by what had just happened with their father. Instead he just accepted the keys and got behind the wheel with out a word. Silently stewing in his own juices.

They had been on the dark highway for about 20 minuets, Sam listening to Dean speak about the people involved quietly when something his brother said cought his attention and he spoke up for the first time since leaving the motel.

"So, the names Dad gave us, they're all couples?" He asked.

"Three different couples. All went missing." Dean answered.

"And they're all from different towns? Different states?" Sam asked, some what intrigued.

"That's right. You got Washington, New York, Colorado." Dean answer shuffling around the various printouts. "Each couple took a road trip cross-country. None of them arrived at their destination, and none of them were ever heard from again."

Sam started to lose faith based on that and voiced his oppinion.

"Well, it's a big country, Dean. They could've disappeared anywhere."

"Yeah, could've." Dean agreed. "But each one's route took 'em to the same part of Indiana. Always on the second week of April. One year after another after another."

"This is the second week of April." Sam stated.

"Yep."

"So, Dad is sending us to Indiana to go hunting for something before another couple vanishes?"

It was more of a thought out loud than a question, but Dean answered anyway.

"Yahtzee. Can you imagine putting together a pattern like this? All the different obits Dad had to go through? The man's a master."

Sam let that last bit sink in and felt the anger rise in him again. Dean's hero worship snapped him back to the reality where his father was shutting him out of the hunt for Jessica's killer.

With too much force Sam pulled the car to a screeching halt on the shoulder of the highway. Making Dean have to brace himself against the dash.

"What are you doing?!" Dean asked, shocked.

"We're not going to Indiana." Sam answered, his voice thick with anger and his fist's tight on the steering wheel.

"We're not?" Dean asked, still wide eyed.

"No. We're going to California. Dad called from a payphone. Sacramento area code."

"Sam-" Dean started but was cut off.

"Dean, if this demon killed Mom and Jess, and Dad's closing in, we've gotta be there. We've gotta help." Sam said. Hoping his brother would understand.

"Dad doesn't want our help." Dean said.

"I don't care." Sam said heatedly.

"He's given us an order." Dean reminded him.

I'M NOT GETTING ANYWHERE WITH HIM. Sam thought.

"I don't care." Sam said louder and firmer. "We don't always have to do what he says."

"Sam, Dad is asking us to work jobs, to save lives, it's important." Dean said.

Sam wasn't so mad that he couldn't understand the reasoning and the truth in what Dean said. But he recongnized it as such, His brother trying to make their father look right no matter how wrong he might be.

"Alright, I understand, believe me, I understand." Sam admitted. "But I'm talking one week here, man, to get answers. To get revenge."

Dean's face softened and for a moment Sam might have believed he was making progress. But the next words his brother spoke took his anger to the next level.

"Alright, look, I know how you feel." Dean said.

"Do you?!" Sam asked in a tone harsher than he would have liked by the shocked expression on Dean's face. But he couldn't stop here. "How old were you when Mom died? Four? Jess died six months ago. How the hell would you know how I feel?"

Instead of retaliating with harsh word of his own, Dean tried once gain to make sense to him.

"Dad said it wasn't safe. For any of us. I mean, he obviously knows something that we don't, so if he says to stay away, we stay away."

"I don't understand the blind faith you have in the man. I mean, it's like you don't even question him." Sam accused.

"Yeah, it's called being a good son!" Dean shot, finally raising his own voice.

They stared at eachother for a few seconds. Sam not fully believeing what his brother had just said, and fully believeing to the point that he knew he this conversation was over and he would get no help in hunting Jessica's killer from his brother.

Angry, he opened the car door and stormed into the night.

Dean watched his brother get out of the car in a puff of anger and almost regretted saying what he had, even after he had been acused of not felling pain for his mothers death and being a drone to their father, that was until he heard the trunk open and knew that Sam was getting his bags out. At that point he had had it with his brothers tantrum.

Getting out of the car himself into the dark night and dead highway, Dean walked back to the rear of the car to where Sam was.

"You're a selfish bastard, you know that?" Dean acused, Sam looked up at him. "You just do whatever you want. Don't care what anybody thinks."

"That's what you really think?" Sam asked as he pushed his back pack onto his soulder.

"Yes, it is." Dean said, his own anger rising.

"Well, then this selfish bastard is going to California." Sam said simply, pulled out his other bag and walked away.

Dean watched him for a second then realized that he couldn't let him walk away. Not like this.

"Come on, you're not serious." He called in a calmer tone.

"I AM serious." Sam said without turning around.

"It's the middle of the night!" Dean called hoping that would stop him. Sam continued to walk and Dean was left with just one thing. A threat.

"Hey, I'm taking off, I will leave your ass, you hear me?!" Dean said.

Sam stopped and turned around. For a second Dean thought that he had made contact.

"That's what I want you to do." Sam said in the calmest tone he'd used since this whole thing started.

They stared at eachother, waiting. But at that point Dean had had enough. He wanted to go to California? Let him. He was going to save lives in Indiana like his father had asked him to.

"Goodbye, Sam." Dean said.

He slammed the trunk, took the keys from the lock and got in the car. Starting the engine up he floored it in anger away from where his brother stood in the dark.


	3. Chapter 3

A day and a half later Dean arrived in Burkitsville, Indiana mostly calmed down and even a little regretful of what had happened between him and Sam.

THAT STUBBORN LITTLE BASTARD. Dean thought for the millionth time as he drove into a service station on the out skirts of town and shut the engine off.

He didn't get out right away but instead sat and mulled over the fight once again. He didn't mean to hurt Sam's feelings but he was not about to apologize for what he'd said, Sam could be the most selfish person when it came to what HE wanted and not exactly what was best for every one around him. Dean admitted that maybe some of it was grief. He had watched Jessica die from the same thing that took their mother away from them.

And Hell, wasn't it their mothers death that drove their father to completely leave their lives in Lawrence behind and pursue this thing? Revenge was a heavy burden and Dean supposed he couldn't fault Sam for being so much like their father.

It was with all these thought's in his mind that he pulled out his cell phone and scrolled down to Sam's name. His thumb hovered over the "send" button but for some reason he just couldn't bring himself to press it. He pinpointed the reason almost immediately. Pride.

Sam couldn't be reasoned with and his complete disrespect for him and their father had gone too far this time. Anger clouding his judgment once again, Dean put the phone in his pocket and got out of the car, grabbing the photos of the latest missing could from the dash before he closed the door.

Inside the station he showed several employees the pictures of the couple, claiming that he was a friend of theirs who was looking for them after they had disappeared. They all looked at the photos and denied ever seeing them.

With no reason not to believe any of them at this point, Dean began to retrace his steps back to the car only to see the last thing he had ever expected to see waiting for him there.

A girl. Sitting on the hood of his car. From this distance he could only make out that she was slender, brunette and wearing jeans and a red T-shirt.

The anger that inflamed him that any one, who cared if was a girl, was sitting on his car and possibly causing damage made him step a little quicker to be able yell faster.

It was the same anger that clouded him so he didn't realize who it was until she was close enough to see him first. Turning to him, she smiled as bright and big as she could.

"Dean!!." She said.

Her long dark hair was free and hung to her waist with the only adornment being the sunglasses on top of her head pushing it all back from her face. Her green eyes sparkled in the sun just like he had always taken note that they did.

"Rachel?" He asked, his anger forgotten and replaced by sheer unbelieving.

"In the flesh." She said spreading her arms and smiling just as brightly.

She wasn't surprised to see him. He thought, which raised the flag for him immediately.

"What the Hell are you doing here?" He asked.

"Dean," She said giving him a chastising look. "Does that mean your not happy to see me?"

Very much on the contrary, he was happy to see her. He'd been on two cases with her in the last 3 months and each time they'd parted he found it was harder and harder to keep her from his thoughts. Taking in her beautiful face now he realized that he was in fact VERY happy to see her. But that still didn't explain why she was here and sitting on the hood of his car.

"You knew I was coming here didn't you?" He asked.

"Oh yeah," She mocked. "The E.S.P is really working out for me these days."

He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a chastising look. Waiting for her to tell the truth.

Her face turned serious and her eyes softened, telling him that she did in fact know what had happened. Her next sentence proved it.

"Sam called me." She finally admitted.

"Sam called you?" Dean asked, his brow furrowing.

"Yeah, he did." She said. Her eyes sad. "He told me everything."

"Funny, how he could call you and I haven't heard from him in almost three days." Dean said more to himself than to her. "What did he say?"

"He told me about the call from your dad, the fight you two had, he gave me some details about the case and asked if I could please come out here and be his...'surrogot' you could say." She explained.

"He asked you to work this job with me?" Dean asked, getting more flustered at Sam by the second.

"Yeah, Dean. Is it so hard to believe that even though he's mad at you he doesn't want you doing a dangerous job alone?" She asked him with wide eyes. "He's still your brother and cares about you even if he's pissed off right now."

"If he was so concerned he should have forgotten his little hissy fit and called me to come get him." Dean argued.

"Well, he didn't." Rachel said shrugging her shoulders. "He asked me to come because he's probably half way to Cali by now."

"And you came?" Dean asked. "Why?"

He saw her eyes flicker with something, he wasn't sure what but before he could really think about it was gone.

"Because I had the time. I was in Detroit following a nutbag that used dream catchers and sleeping pills to give his enemies heart attacks in their sleep." She answered. "I'd just finished up when Sam called. So we working this one together or what Winchester?"

Dean looked at her and tried to stifle his anger at Sam, but only to the minorist avail.

YEAH SAMMY, THROW A PRETTY GIRL AT ME AND ALL IS FORGIVEN HUH? Dean thought.

But taking in her beautiful features and remembering the long case they'd worked 6 weeks ago in New Orleans and the time they'd spent together made his temper cool a few degrees. It would be cool to have her at his back for this one.

"Well, we're both here right?" He said, uncrossing his arms. "Might as well get on it."

Dean looked around the station for the white, '65 Mustang than Rachel drove. All he saw was a broken up pickup and a bunch of buses at the far end.

"Where's your car?" He asked.

"In Detroit." She answered. "I kinda took the front end off racing for the nutbag though a cemetery gate. My girls being patched up."

"So how'd you get here?" Dean asked. "And how'd you find me?"

"I took the bus in." She said motioning to the buses he'd noticed a second ago. "I was about to call you but it was dumb luck that you happened to pull in here and I saw you. Did YOU know I was coming?"

She smiled with all her wickedness again and Dean found himself having to fight it back to smile with her. She was contagious and charming and he didn't want either right now. He wanted to be mad at Sam.

"You ready?" He asked seriously, but he didn't drop her spirits.

She hopped down from the hood of the car.

"Yep, sure am." She said as she pulled the sun glasses off her head and onto her eyes.

She turned toward the passenger side door and opened it.

"My stuff's already in the truck, let's move." She said with her back to him.

WAIT A MINUET! Dean thought when she opened the door.

"The car was locked! How did you get in?" He asked incredulously.

She turned around to face him. Dark sunglasses covering her eyes and she the biggest smile on her face, she propped her elbow on top in the open car door.

"Do you really wanna know?" She asked with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Dean stood there shocked and contemplated her question. Flabbergasted that she'd broken into his car. He answered her honestly.

"No." He said in a slightly whiny tone and with his head down headed toward the drivers side with his keys in his hand.


	4. Chapter 4

Rachel rode in the passenger seat next to Dean as they made the 20 minute drive into the heart of Burkitsville, where things were more populated and less farm land. They agreed that that was the best place to start, since it was unlikely that any of the couples would have stopped to talk to the cows.

As they drove Dean vented about the whole thing with Sam and she listened while studying his face and wondering why she had said yes to Sam.

When he had called about 38 hours ago, Rachel had been just getting the bad news that she was immobile for the next 3 days at least as the mechanic ordered a new radiator and bumper for the Mustang. Because for some reason, he didn't have a radiator on hand for a classic car.

She'd know something was up almost at once when she heard Sam's voice. It didn't take long for him to get to the point and ask if she would meet Dean in Indiana and help out on a hunt that he couldn't be there for. It took a little longer for her to pull it out of him why he couldn't be there.

But when he finally spilled it she could hear the guilt in his voice at having abandoned his brother for his own purposes and against her better judgment, agreed to hop on the bus and meet Dean here.

She told herself it was because Sam needed the favor. She told herself that was she being a good friend and helping out Sam when he needed her.

She fought back the real reason in her head. Which was that she just wanted to be near Dean again.

When Sam had come out and asked her she'd felt an initial bolt of anticipation at the thought of being in the same breathing space as the elder Winchester again.

Followed immediately by the fight in her head that the right thing to do was stay away.

Nine months since Kelly had drowned. Nine months Rachel wanted nothing of the pleasures her sister couldn't have because it was her own fault that her sister was dead. Nine months of the pain of not having her sister as her partner. Nine months of not speaking to her mother because she just couldn't bear the pain of having cost her her youngest child. Nine months of punishing herself, nightmares and painful memories of better times.

It was to her dismay that all that was alleviated when she was around Dean.

Handsome as the Devil, funny, charming and witty she found it hard to remain in her self imposed guilt and doldrums when around him.

Not to mention that their chemistry clashed in such a white hot way that she found harder and harder to ignore the heat between them the more time she spent with him.

All this was enough to stay away from him. She felt wrong not being miserable for Kelly all the time and he made her feel right for some reason. She'd spent days getting his presence out of her head the last time they'd split in New Orleans.

And now here she was again. Sitting in his car, looking at his profile and wondering what his lips would feel like against hers. Or other parts of her body.

"So I'm right. Right?" Dean asked, driving with one hand and tilting his head to look at her.

She tried not to physically shake her head as she came back to reality from her thoughts and realized that he'd been asking her something. He waited for her reply and she winged it as best she could.

"Dean, is any one right in a situation like this?" She said with sad eyes.

"What?" He asked, frowning at her.

"Your not wrong, Sam's not wrong and your fathers not wrong, either. This whole thing isn't as easy as that." She said.

"Rachel," He said, deepening his frown. "I asked you if I was right about that sign saying that we're 5 miles from the town. I didn't get a good look at it."

Rachel felt the heat of embarrassment spring into her cheeks. She racked her brain on how to recover.

"I'm sorry." She said with a laugh. "The guy I sat next to on the bus had the worst B.O ever. Must have killed off a few of my brain cells."

"I'll say." Dean agreed but then cracked a smile to let her know that all was forgiven. "That bad huh?"

"Yeah. Pretty bad." She said.

"You know you could have told Sam to go screw himself." Dean suggested.

I SHOULD HAVE. Rachel thought as she tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach at the sight of the sun making his eyes a bright green.

"I could have," She agreed. "But he gave me those puppy dog eyes of his and I just couldn't resist."

Once again he frowned at her. "Over the phone?"

"They're very powerful." She laughed.

"Well, I'm glad your here." He said. Then after a pause, looked over at her and added "I missed you."

Her heart skipped a beat in her chest. He caught her eyes and they let the moment hang in the air for what felt like an hour.

I KNEW I SHOULDN'T HAVE CAME. She thought. But looking at him she couldn't help but tell the truth.

"I missed you, too." She said quietly.

The moment hung for what felt like another year before they where able to look away. 5 minuets later Dean stopped the car and announced that they where just inside the town.

Rachel looked around at the charming atmosphere of the small town; the tiny post office, an actual sheriff station, the gas station with only two pumps. Hunter mode kicked in and she surveyed for anything out of the ordinary. It was during the scan that Dean spoke again.

"Where should we start?"

"How about with that guy?" Rachel offered inclining her head to a wall of shops 20 yards from where they where parked. The closest one had a swinging sign outside that said "Scotty's cafe." Out side the door a man in his late forties sat in a chair against the wall.

"Let's go." Dean said.

As they got out of the car Rachel reached for the missing people flyers on the dash board and handed them to Dean as they approached the man. Dean spoke first when they where close enough.

"Let me guess." He said, gesturing to the sign, "Scotty?"

The man looked up at the sign then back at Dean.

"Yep." He said in very unimpressed tone.

"Hi, my names John Bonham." Dean said.

Rachel did her best not to roll her eyes. But then she saw the Scotty's brow lower.

"Isn't that the drummer for Led Zeppelin?" Scotty asked.

Rachel tried with all her might not to laugh.

"Wow. Good. Classic rock fan." Dean said, flustered.

"What can I do for you, John?" Scotty asked.

While Dean tried to collect himself, Rachel took the photos from his hand and addressed Scotty herself.

"We where wondering if you'd seen these people by chance." She handed him the flyers.

"And who're you, Janis Joplin?" Scotty said before looking at the pictures.

"No." Rachel said and tried to put on a hurt face. "My names Rachel. Holly's my sister. That's her husband Vince. They disappeared last year and we're out here trying to find them. Have you seen then?"

"Nope. Sorry" Scotty said.

" Are you sure?" Dean chimed in. "They passed through somewhere around here, and we've already asked around Scottsburg and Salem—"

"Sorry." Scotty said handing back the flyers. "We don't get many strangers around here."

"Scotty, you've got a smile that lights up a room, anybody ever tell you that?" Dean said looking at Scotty who still looked like he smelled something slightly odd. That look turned to one of looking at Dean like he had three heads. "Never mind. See you around."

They walked away and once they where out of earshot Rachel took his arm and turned him toward her.

"What the Hell was that?" She asked.

"What? I thought you liked my charm." He said with that stupid smile of his.

"John Bonham? Complimenting his smile?" She asked.

"OK fine. I know." He said with the cutest look of defeat on his face. "It's just that Sam usually does this whole people stuff and I guess him not being here has thrown my equilibrium off a little."

"Tell you what, pretend I'm Sam and don't do that again. OK?" She offered.

He seemed to think about it for a moment then did that crooked smile of his with the one raised eyebrow and she thought she'd melt.

"Not for nothing, Rach, but it's gonna be tough pretending your a tall, dweeby, know-it-all dude." He said while looking her up and down just a bit.

As appealing as he was to her right now she forced a chastising look onto her features and crossed her arms.

"OK, fine." He said taking a step away. "Let's go Sam."


	5. Chapter 5

An hour and a half later, Dean was beginning to get a bit annoyed. He and Rachel had been to almost every shop in the heart of town so far and no one seemed to recognize the people in the flyers. He didn't want to resort to knocking on doors, but if they didn't have some luck soon, it would probably come down to that.

Currently, they where harassing the folks at "Jorgeson General Store." A man and his wife in their sixties maybe. The husband looked at the photos and frowned when asked if he'd seen them.

"You sure they didn't stop for gas or something?" Dean asked.

Harley sent the picture over to his wife. Who, after a quick glance, shook her head.

"Nope, don't remember 'em." The old man said. "You said they were friends of yours?"

"That's right." Dean said. Before he could say anymore his attention was diverted to the nearby stair case. A pretty young blond descended carrying two white boxes.

The girl put the boxes on the counter and looked over at the pictures in the mans hands.

"Did the guy have a tattoo?" The girl asked.

"Yes, he did." Rachel answered.

The girl took the flyer and addressed the man.

"You remember? They were just married." The girl said.

The old man frowned a little deeper and a light seemed to come to his eyes.

"You're right." He said. "They did stop for gas. Weren't here more than ten minutes."

Dean and Rachel exchanged a look. Finally, they had something.

"You remember anything else?" Dean asked taking back the photo.

"I told 'em how to get back to the Interstate. They left town." The old man relayed.

"Could you point us in that same direction?" Rachel asked.

"Sure." The old man said after a shrug of his shoulders.

15 minutes later in the Impala driving in the direction that the old man, whose name they had learned from his niece Emily to be Harley, had sent them, Dean found himself very aware of Rachel sitting next to him in his car in place of Sam.

He felt the familiar heat between them in the comfortable silence that enclosed them and again flirted with the idea of giving into it. He hadn't at this point because........Because what? He was sensitive to her fragile psyche? Didn't want to shit where he ate? She was his partner after all. Not just another chick in a bar.

Well, what ever it was he felt his resolve to keep his distance slipping further and further the more time he spent with her. And now with out Sam here as an excuse to be good, he felt the pull even stronger.

The fact that she had admitted to wanting him badly herself at the last time they had parted didn't help at all.

"is it just me, or do you also feel the crazy grasping at straws vibe we've got going right now?" She said.

Almost startled out of his thoughts by her voice, he had to take a full second to realize that she was talking about the wild goose chase they seemed to be on with the case right now and not that she had read his thoughts.

"Well, it's the best we have so far." Was all he could say.

"Yeah. Your right. It just seems to me that if this was something supernatural we would have spoken to someone by now about any strange occurances in the town." Rachel commented.

The scenery outside Rachel's side of the car changed to that of tall trees all in neat rows spaced apart. An orchard. Apples or peaches maybe.

"So you think nothings happening here? All those people just dropped off the face of the planet while driving through this part of town by coincidence?" Dean asked.

"No. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that maybe your dad is wrong about this being our thing. Maybe these peoples disappearances has another explanation." She stated.

Dean didn't have a second to reply to that because a loud, high pitched hum could all of a sudden be heard filling the car.

"What the Hell?" Dean said under his breath.

The two hunters frowned at each other while the sound continued and Dean followed his ear to the back seat, where it seemed to be coming from.

His green duffle lay across the back seat. He reached back and slipped his hand inside. Pulling out the smooth little box his hand closed on.

He brought it back to the front and he and Rachel stared at it in disbelief.

"Is that....?" She asked, staring at the little box with every red light glowing brightly on it, the reading hand pushed all the way to the right and the loud high pitched humming louder now that it was free.

"EMF." Dean confirmed. "Still think it's nothing supernatural?"

"Holy shit." She said. "Pull over."

He did as he was told and brought the car to a stop at the grassy shoulder. They both got out of the car and Dean walked around to the shoulder where Rachel stood. If it were possible the high pitched humming got even louder.

"It's coming from the orchard." He said.

"What are we waiting for then?" Rachel asked.

The exchanged looks and headed into the mouth of the plantation.

Tall trees surrounded them on every side in neatly lined rows. The grass under their feet was thick and lush and green. There were wooden baskets and ladders every so often along the path which indicated that orchard was taken care of and used.

Dean watched the EMF meter in his hand and tried not be distracted by the sweet smell of growling apples and the soft chirp of the birds over head. This place seemed a little too natural and abundant, it irked him. He wondered what kind of name Rachel would call him if he told her that he was slightly sickened by all the nature and fertility around him right now.

But then it occurred to him that she should know by now that the open road under his classic car tires, the skin of a dead cow on his back and the notes of a great song by The Who coming from his speakers was what was natural to him. Not all this.

"Dean." He heard Rachel say, pulling him from his thoughts.

He looked up at her and saw her motion to his right. What he saw there almost chilled him.

A scarecrow. About his size, crucified on a wooden stake about 100 yards away. He and Rachel walked toward it and stopped just below it.

The thing wore dirty, torn over-alls with a flannel shirt beneath and a hat made of straw on it's head. That's where it's resemblance to a normal scarecrow ended. It's face was that of a child's nightmare.

Looking like it wore a mask, it's brow was twisted in and it's hallow eyes where slanted in a look of rage, it's mouth was just vertical wires, making it look like the lips were sown shut by a very large, wicked needle, or like Hannibal Lechter in his muzzle.

"Dude. You fugly." Dean said to it.

"You can say that again." Rachel said, looking up at it with almost as much repulsion as Dean. "What's that in it's hand?"

Dean looked at the right hand and noticed the farm tool for the first time.

"It's a sickle." He answered, noticing how sharp and shiny the wickedly curved blade was. "It's used to cut wheat."

She looked over at him with puzzlement on her face.

"Wow. You really are from Kansas, huh?" She asked.

If he hadn't ben distracted by how lovely her face was in the apple tree shaded sunlight he might have had a smart response for her.

He looked away to stop the thought and in doing so noticed the mark on the sickle holding arm of the scarecrow.

Frowning, he walked closer and stopped just below it. The dummy was elevated about 5 feet so from where he was, Dean couldn't see what he had gotten a glimpse of.

Looking to the left he saw one of the wooden ladders he'd noticed earlier propped up against the neighboring tree. He walked over and took it. Bringing it back he leaned it next to the scarecrows post and climbed the 5 steps that brought it face to face with it.

Rachel watched but didn't say a word, letting him do his thing. He pulled up the sleeve of the flannel shirt the thing wore and uncovered the mark that he had glimpsed from the ground.

Black ink in a tribal design looked back at him. Familiar.

"Rachel, hand me the flyer of Vince please." He asked.

Rachel reached into the back pocket of her jeans and produced the papers. She unfolded them and went through them until she found the one he'd asked for. Stepping close to the ladder she reached up while he simultaneously reached down to take to paper from her hand.

He looked at the picture of the missing man. In it Vince held a coffee cup up to his face, his right forearm was exposed, the marking clearly visible.

Dean looked back down at the same forearm of the scarecrow then back to the image on the paper. The mark on Vince's arm and the dummy's was identical.

Dean looked up into the scarecrows hollow, evil eyes. Almost sure that the thing would know it was found out and spring to devour his face.

"Nice tat." Dean said to it, wondering if the thing heard the fake compliment.


	6. Chapter 6

"So what now?" Rachel asked as she and Dean slid back into the car 15 minutes after finding the markings on the scarecrow.

"Well, that thing definitely has something to do with the disappearings." Dean offered.

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock, I'm asking what are going to do to figure out what and why and how to stop it."

Dean glared at her sitting in his passenger seat.  
"You obviously have an idea." He challenged.

"I do actually." She said  
"You do?" He asked.  
"I do."  
"You do?"  
"I do."  
"Really?"  
"REALLY." She said with a chuckle at their exchange. "Is it so hard to believe?"  
"Well, so do I." He said before he could stop himself.  
"You do?" She asked with a questioning frown.  
"I do."  
"No you don't."  
"Yes I do."  
"Well, what is it then?" She asked.  
"I'm working on it." He said. It was all he could think of.  
"Your working on it?" She asked with a tone in her voice that could only mean that she knew he was full of it.  
But he was not about to let her think that she had the answer before him. Her report to Sam would be that she hadn't been needed. That he had been able to handle it on his own. He would make sure of it.  
Even if at this particular moment he was sure that she was ten steps ahead of him. What the tattoo on the scarecrow meant, he had no clue as of yet.  
"Yeah, I'm working on it." He confirmed as he started the car. "Is that so hard to believe?"  
"Ok, so where are we headed?" She asked as the car pulled away from the shoulder of the highway.  
Dean swung the car around in a U-turn and headed back to where they came from.  
"Back to Burkitsville. What ever is going on here I'm sure that it has it's roots in that town." He said, being sure of at least that much.  
"We're on the same track then." She said.  
Half an hour later they pulled into the only gas station that Burkitsville had to offer, deciding that a few more questions needed to be asked of it's good citizens before the day was over. But first things first, Dean's baby needed a drink. The gas station stood among the "shopping strip" of the town. Housed behind it where all the businesses that they had haunted this morning looking for answers.  
"Hey, isn't that that girl Emily from the general store?" Rachel asked as they pulled up to the pump.  
Dean looked over and saw that it was indeed the young pretty blond.

"Yeah, that's her. The gas station must be part of her uncles store." Dean offered. "Well, gotta start with someone. Might as well be her."  
"Ok, I'm gonna pretend like I have to go to the bathroom. You start trying to get something out of her." Rachel said.  
Confused, Dean turned to her. "Your gonna "pretened" to have to go to the bath room?"  
"Yeah. So you can talk to Emily." Rachel answered.  
"Why don;t we both just talk to her?" Dean asked.  
She rolled her eyes at him. making him sure that she had a smart answer to give.  
"Duh, if you were a young girl stuck in this town with no one but Billy-bob and his goat to look at all day, who would you feel more willing to talk to? The cute guy who just came into town? Or the chick that looked like she was the cute guys' girlfriend?" She said.  
Dean thought about it and realized she was right. He would be willing to talk to a hot girl way before some dude. So maybe her feigning to pee would be the best course of action.  
"Ok." She said opening the door. "Now put on the smile that'll melt her heart and let's do this."  
Stepping out into the bright sunlight with her he walked to the gas tank on began to unscrew the cap.  
"Hi." He heard Rachel say to the girl. "Emily right?"  
"Yeah. You guys're back." Emily replied.  
"We never left actually." Rachel said. "Is there some where that I can use the bathroom?"  
"Um, yeah. Scotty's cafe, right over there." Emily pointed. Rachel gave her a big smile and said thanks, then eyed Dean with a look that meant that the girl was all his.  
"You mind fillin' her up there, Emily?" Dean asked once Rachel had walked off.  
The girl took the pump and walked to the tank where she began filling it. Dean leaned again the car and tried to turn on the charm like said he should. "So, you grew up here?" He asked.  
Emily smiled and tilted her head. Maybe Rachel had been right.  
"I came here when I was thirteen. I lost my parents. Car accident. My aunt and uncle took me in."  
"They're nice people."  
"Everybody's nice here."  
"So, what, it's the, uh, perfect little town?"  
"Well, you know, it's the boonies. But I love it. I mean, the towns around us, people are losing their homes, their farms. But here" Emily paused and took in a deep breath. Her innocence clear as day to Dean. "It's almost like we're blessed."  
Dean nodded but inside his head his brain fought to work with that sentence. It struck him as odd and didn;t sit well with him. He decided that she was open enough to press on.  
"Hey, you been out to the orchard? You seen that scarecrow?"  
"Yeah, it creeps me out."  
Dean laughed before his next question.  
"Whose is it?"  
"I don't know. It's just always been there."  
Another sentence that irked him. He trusted his senses enough to know that there was more to it then that. But as he was soaking it in, he took notice of a red Volkswagen van that hadn't been there on his first visit sitting in the driveway of the town garage.  
"That your aunt and uncle's?" Dean asked.  
Emily glanced at it the turned back to answer his question.  
"Customer. Had some car troubles."  
The mother of all bad feelings crept into his stomach upon the completion of that sentence. It was that felling that gassed his next question.  
"It's not a couple, is it? A guy and a girl?"  
Emily squinted her eyes at him. "Yeah. it is actually."  
The need to find Rachel suddenly took presidence over his chat with Emily. He paid for the gas and set off in the direction that Emily had sent Rachel a few minutes earlier.  
Rounding the corner that would lead him to Scotty's, Dean and Rachel almost full on body slammed into each other. Both breaking at the last possible second, they avoided the collision.  
"Rachel. The red Volkswagen parked. Car trouble." Dean said, but then noticed that she was just as frantic looking as he was.  
"I know." She said. "A man and a woman. They're in Scotty's having lunch. That's why I was on my way back to find you."  
"Ok, so let's go." He said and walked passed her toward Scotty's Cafe. He felt her hand take hold of his bicep before he could make two steps. He turned to look at her.  
"Woah. Wait a minute. You can't just barge in there with them. What's the plan?" She said.  
"Plan? They're gonna be scarecrow food if we don't stop them." Dean said as she let go of his arm.  
"Ok, your right. But what's the plan? What are we gonna do when we get in there?" She asked.  
Dean furrowed his brow. He hadn't thought that far. His gut just told him to try and stop them. From what, he didn't know.  
"I'm workin on it." Was all he said to Rachel.  
"Are those your words of the day? 'I'm workin on it'? We can't just make this up as we go along, we have to think first." She said.  
"All I'm thinking right now is these people are gonna be in the papers like every one else has been if we don't do something." Dean said. "Now I'm going to think on my feet and go in there. You with me or what?" He asked.  
A look of defiance could be seen a moment before her features went slack, she hung her head slightly and waved her arm, motioning for him to go forward and that she would follow.  
He opened the door to Scootie's Cafe and saw the couple immediately. About his and Rachel's age, he was lean and built, she was a pretty brunette. They were the only costumers in the place and Scottie himself was pouring the attention on them. Holding the door open for Rachel to enter behind him, he saw the owner of the cafe place two pieces of apple pie in front of them. As he and Rachel made their way to the table next to theirs he over heard the conversation.  
"We're famous for our apples. So, you gotta try this pie." Scottie said as he placed the plates.  
"Oh, no. It—please" The girl tried to protest.  
"It's on the house." Scottie insisted.  
Scottie turned to leave and almost walked into Dean in the process.  
"Oh, hey, Scotty. Can we get some coffee? Black for me. Rachel, you take cream?" Dean said.  
He saw Rachel give him a 'don't be such a smart ass' look before answering him.  
"Black for me, too. Thanks." She said.  
Scottie walked away with a look of contempt. Dean had a feeling that their presence here was not welcomed.  
"Oh, and some of that pie too, while you at it." He called to the retreating man, getting a full on glare from Rachel in the process.  
They sat at a table right next to the eating couple. Rachel sat with her arms and legs crossed, she waved her hand toward the couple as if to say 'ok, genius. work your magic.'  
Dean ignored her and focused his attention on the couple. He opened his mouth to speak and realized that he had no idea what to say. So he said the first thing that came to his mind.  
"How ya doin? Just passing through?"  
The girl turned to him and smiled.  
"Road Trip" She said.  
"Hmm. Yeah, us too." He said but was interrupted by Scottie who came to their table again and refilled their cider.  
"I'm sure these people want to eat in peace." He said.  
"Just a little friendly conversation." Dean said. Once again Scottie walked away with a scowl on his face. "Oh and that coffee, too, man, Thanks."  
He caught a glimpse of Rachel as she rolled her eyes. He again ignored her.  
"So what brings you to town?" Dean asked.  
"We just stopped for gas. And, uh, the guy at the gas station saved our lives." The girl said.  
"Is that right?" Dean asked.  
"Yeah, one of our brake lines was leaking." The guy took over. "We had no idea. He was fixing it for us."  
"Nice people." Dean commented.  
"Yeah." The guy said before turning around again to finish his pie.  
"So, how long till you're up and runnin'?" Dean asked.  
"Sundown." The guy said.  
"Really." Dean looked at Rachel for help, he got nothing but a raised eye brow. He was on his own. "To fix a brake line?"  
The man nodded.  
"I mean, you know, I know a thing or two about cars. I could probably have you up and running in about an hour. I wouldn't charge you anything." Dean offered.  
"You know, thanks a lot, but I think we'd rather have a mechanic do it." The girl said.  
"Sure. I know." Dean said. He again looked to Rachel this time for a life line as he was steadily sinking. Once again he got a defiant look. Not knowing what else to say he said again what came to his head. "You know, it's just that these roads. They're not real safe at night."  
"I'm sorry?" The girl said with a frown.  
"I know it sounds strange, but, uh—you might be in danger." When all else failed, be honest?  
"Look, we're trying to eat. Okay?" The guy said, annoyance in his voice this time.  
"Yeah." Dean said. Letting his disappointment and failure show this time. "You know, my brother could give you this puppy dog look, and you'd just buy right into it." He said more to himself then to them this time.  
He looked over at Rachel again and instead of a look of I told you so, she had a look of pity on her face for him. Hearing him talk about Sam had softened her.  
The bell above the cafe door jingled and a tall man walked in. At the same moment Scottie came out from the back room.  
"Thanks for coming, Sheriff." Dean and Rachel exchanged looks then watched as Scottie whispered something in the sheriff's ear, both men look over at Dean and Rachel, who looked away. The sheriff walked over to them.  
"I'd like a word, please." The Sheriff said.  
"Come on. I'm having a bad day already." Dean said to the tall man.  
"You know what would make it worse?" The Sheriff said.  
Dean opened his mouth to tell him he didn't give a flying fuck, but Rachel's voice chimed in before he could say anything.  
"We're coming Sheriff." She said and stood up. Dean followed them outside.  
"I want you two out of this town right now." The Sheriff said.  
"And why's that? We making you all nervous?" Dean asked with a hard look on his face.  
"Son, your about two seconds from spending the night in my jail." The tall man said with a look of steel to match Dean's  
"Well, what if I don't want to go?" Dean asked.  
"Boy, I swear-" The Sheriff started but again Rachel but him off.  
"Ok, Sheriff, we don't want any trouble. We'll go." She said.  
"No we won't" Dean said, not taking his eyes from the man. He'd be damned if he would be told what to do.  
"If I were you I'd listen to her." He said with a tone of warning in his voice.  
Dean stepped forward to tell him what he thought of his threats but Rachel took a half a step in front of him and pushed him back with a gentle hand on his chest.  
"We're going." She said. Dean looked down at her. "We're doing." She said again with a fixated look.  
Dean gave in. With one last glaring look at the Sheriff he reached into his pocket, withdrew his keys and turned around to head toward the Impala with Rachel in step behind him.  
"I'll escort ya to the border folks." The Officer called to them. Dean fought everything in him and just kept walking.  
In the car he waited until Rachel was in and closed the door then turned to her.  
"How is this going to do any good?" He asked.  
"How was you going to jail for the night going to save those people?" She asked in return.  
He had no answer for her so he just started the car and began driving. Heading toward the interstate, he noticed that true to his word, the sheriff was right behind them, escorting them out of town.  
Dean bit down his anger and turned to Rachel once again.  
"So what now?" He asked.  
"Well, I have an idea."

That same night, the man and woman who ate at Scotties walked through the orchard.  
"I can't believe it. We just got the car fixed." The girl said.  
"This way." The man says as they walk through the clearing. A rustling of leave behind them makes them turn quickly.  
"Steve?" The girl says and grabs his arm in fear. The noise sounds once again.  
"Who's there?" Steve calls out.  
The impossibly tall figure of the scarecrow comes out from behind the trees. It begins walking towards them, sensing the terrible danger they're in, the couple begin to run. Fear and adrenalin pump through their veins as they run.  
A look behind then showed the wicked figure welding a curved scythe blade. They ran faster, trying to save their own lives.  
They ran for the clearing, they almost made it but knew that they were loosing ground to the scarecrow. What would the do when they got to the car that didn't start?  
As the girl thought about their doomed fate two shadowy figured appeared in front of her and Steve, both carried what looked like guns and her heart almost exploded in her chest before she recognized them.  
The man and woman from the cafe earlier. She guy who had offered to fix the car and the girl how had remained silent the whole time.  
They stopped short in front of them and for an instant thought that the guns were being pointed at them. But then the girl spoke.  
"Get back to your car." She yelled. The girl glanced behind her again and saw that the scythe wielding figure was getting closer.  
"Go! Go!" The girl yelled, she and the guy both pointed their guns at the figure behind them.  
Not waiting to see what happened the girl pulled her husband out of the line of fire and toward their car.  
Rachel and Dean stood with both shot guns cocked and ready.  
Dean pulled the trigger and Rachel flinched at the sound of the gun firing. She watched the scarecrow take the buckshot to the chest. He staggered but kept coming. She pulled her trigger next, getting him in the torso. He kept coming.  
Dean fired once more, a square hit in the head and neck. After another stagger he kept moving forward. Closing in on them. Too close to warrant more shots that wouldn't bring him down.  
With out a word of communication they both took off, running toward the Impala parked rigth behind the failed vehicle of the couple.  
"What the Hell was that?" Steve asked.  
"Don't ask, get in the car." Dean says.  
Rachel pulled three more shots out of her pocket to have ready. When she looked up the scarecrow was rounding the corner of the clearing, headed for them again.  
"We gotta go." She said. "IN THE CAR NOW!!!"  
Dean ran to the drivers side while she pulled open the passenger side and all but shoved the couple in one after the other. Dean had the car started before the back seat was pushed back into place so Rachel could get in. Looking back she had all but a split second to get in before the thing was upon her.  
She got in and slammed the door. Dean pushed the accelerator so hard that the gravel of the shoulder of the highway kicked up behind them before the tires took hold and they where able to move. Looking in the rear view mirror they saw the distance between the evil thing and themselves widen.  
Gasping for breath, Dean and Rachel exchanged a look. They had gotten the couple out alive.


	7. Chapter 7

Dean and Rachel sat on the floor of the rented hotel room eating pizza. They ate on the floor because upon entering the room they'd noticed that the table and chairs that the motel provided where worn and shaky.  
As they ate, speaking to each other on occasion but mostly in comfortable silence, Rachel mulled over all the events of the night so far.

After driving off with the scarecrow in the rearview mirror the girl, whose name was Megan she'd found out, completely wigged out in the back seat. She was more worried about her car then the fact that they'd escaped with their lives.

"We were almost killed back there, Megan." Her husband had said.

"C'mon Steve. It was just some one playing a joke." Megan said, pleading. Then she'd turned her attention to the front seat where Dean and Rachel sat. "Right? It was just a joke, right?" She asked desperately.

"Lady trust me," Dean said looking at her in the rear view mirror. "It was no joke."

"But our car-" She started before Rachel whipped her head around to look at her.

"Listen! You were almost gutted like a fish back there." Rachel all but yelled. The girl sank back into the seat and eyed Rachel with disbelief. "It wasn't a joke or some one playing around. You were almost killed. As in dead. Get it?"

The girl had said nothing, but she continued to stare at Rachel with wide eyes, now swimming in tears. Rachel figured the impact of what really could have happened to her was sinking in, that the denial was slipping.

"Now," Rachel had continued, a little more calmly. "It's almost midnight. We're going to find someplace to stay in the next town over."

She'd looked over at Dean for confirmation, he gave her a slight nod.

"We're all going to get some sleep and we'll take you back for your car in the morning, during the day, when it's safe. Dean can fix what ever they jammed in your car to make you stall when you got to the orchard."

Again she'd looked to him for confirmation and again she'd got a small nod. She turned her full attention to the back seat again.

"Then you two are going drive as fast and as far away from this place as you can. Ok?"

The stunned couple nodded in unison. She'd turned herself back to the front and exchanged looks with Dean. He was glad that she had finally shut the hysterical girl up.

They drove the next 20 minutes in silence.

Sharing a room with Dean posed two very big problems to her at the moment. One of them was that she and Dean would be alone. While they had roomed together before, Sam had also been there. And even with the younger man present it had been hard, almost impossible, to keep her eyes from to herself from things like watching him change a shirt or getting a whiff of his spicy aftershave after a shower.

She wanted him. Period. She was done trying to deny it. But she just couldn't. Her misery for her little sister had caused her to self impose restrictions on her life. Sex was one of them. If Kelly couldn't have sex with a hot guy, then neither could Rachel. She was going to enjoy nothing that her sister could not enjoy while she rotted in her coffin. Rachel would rot above the ground with her.

But the thought of being weak around Dean while they where alone took a back seat to what REALLY made her not want to share a room with him. She was almost certain that she could resist him, especially if he was a good boy. He wanted her as well, no secret about that, but he almost seemed to understand where she was coming form. Family was important to him too so he respected her misery.

Her main concern was the dreams. Since they had parted the last time in New Orleans, the dreams she'd been plagued with since Kelly's death had gotten so bad and frequent that she had hardly had a moments rest. She'd wake up crying some times, screaming other times, but always afraid and shaken. She didn't want Dean to see her like that. She didn't want ANYONE to see her like that.

But she hadn't known how to insist that the not share a room without bringing up all of it so when he'd returned to the car from the office with only 2 room keys she'd kept her mouth shut. She silently panicked inside, but she'd kept her mouth shut.

They dropped the couple off at their room and made plans to meet back at the same spot at 8 A.M. They'd pulled into the spot near their own room and after stowing the shot guns in the trunk of the Impala they'd walked into the surprisingly large room and Rachel was relieved to see the 2 double beds in the corner. There would be no awkward talk about who got the sofa in the corner.

They'd dropped their bags on the beds and with out conferring with each other set to "securing" the room. A practice that every hunter did religiously when bedding down in hotels, motels and everything in between. Rachel handled the salt on the windows and doors while Dean hid the mojo bags and placed the handguns and knives within easy reach of where they would sleep.

When they where done they caught each others eyes across the room and for a moment Rachel was afraid that things would be awkward. But Dean uttered one word that made the pit in her stomach go away and set the mood for the rest of the night.

"Food?" was the one word.

She tried not to make the thankful exhale too noticeable.

"Food." She agreed.

To their surprise, the phone book in the room held the phone number for a all night pizza joint that delivered. After laughing that one existed in a town so small, Rachel remarked that there was probably a local college near by that warranted it.

They order a large mushroom. And to their surprise the pizzeria offered beer as well. She only ordered 1 to have with her pizza because she was not about to get tipsy in a room with Dean. She didn't fully trust herself sober, so inebriation was out.

While they waited for the food they set up Rachel's laptop and Dean went to work on his fathers journal, trying to find anything that John might have to offer about the scarecrow. This was how they found out that the table was broken, Rachel had had to make a mad dive to save the laptop from hitting the floor after trying to set it up on the table, which all but collapsed under the small weight. She set up on the bed instead.

So when the pizza had arrived they spread one of the bed sheets on the floor and sat down Indian style on the floor to eat their dinner. Or whatever meal was had at 1:15 am.

They spoke about the fact that they'd found nothing on the web or in the journal that could give them a clue to what was going on. But Rachel mentioned that she'd found out that the college that was indeed near by had a professor of local folk lure in employ. She suggested that they maybe go see him tomorrow after they got the couple on their way.

"Why a dude that knows folk lure? What would that have to do with what's going on?" Dean asked after a bite of pizza.

"When I couldn't find anything on the regular sites I started thinking maybe this isn't big enough to be well know." She explained. "You know, maybe what ever's going on here is too small to be so out there. So maybe this guy will have an idea what's going on because it's just contained to this small part of the world."

"Well there was nothing in dad's journal and I'm all out of ideas. So let's give it a shot." Dean said and took a long swallow of his beer.

Rachel tried not to notice his adams apple working as he swallowed, or the way his bicep flexed when he brought the bottle to his mouth. Or his mouth in general. She averted her eyes down to her slice of mushroom pizza to get away from the train of thought that was taking over her brain.

They talked about nothing important for the rest of their meal. As usual the conversation was smooth and easy flowing. They even laughed a little.

After cleaning up they changed into their sleeping clothes and prepared to get some sleep. Rachel was thankful that the atmosphere was friendly and non sexual even though she'd gotten butterflies in her stomach more then once for several things pertaining to him. She'd almost forgotten what a beautiful shade of hazel green his eyes where, how sexy his deep voice was and how handsome he was on top of his good looks when he smiled.

But she was holding up good. Until a piece of glass and a bare foot changed it all.

After retrieving her tooth brush from her bag, she made her way into the bathroom for rid her self of the tomato seeds and mushroom bits that had been her dinner. As soon as she stepped over the threshold into the tiled room, a sharp, shearing pain shot up the sole of her left foot. She yelped loudly and yanked her foot up. Unfortunately the foot that was yanked up was the one that she'd been taking a step with at the time.

She lost her balance and went down hard on her right knee. Falling forward, she would have landed on her face had she not instinctually held her hands out in front of her.

All but yelling "ow ow ow ow" She twisted until she was able to sit on her butt on the floor. Dean was kneeling in front of her with concern on his face asking "What happened?" in a second.

"I don't know." She answered and took hold of her ankle. Twisting her foot to look at the sole, she saw the blood dripping down to her heel from the biggest piece of glass shard she'd ever seen. Later she would realize that even though it was in fact a big piece of shard, it was by no means THE BIGGEST she'd ever seen. Pain and the sight of blood and shock could mess with your perspective of things. Especially when the object of perspective was embedded in your flesh and spilling your blood.

"Oh my God, Ow ow." She said.

Dean took her foot and turned it so that he could get a better look.

"Holy shit." He said with wide eyes. Apparently he thought it was the biggest piece of glass there was too. "How did you do that?"

She could have smacked him just then.

"I didn't do it on purpose. It was on the floor and I stepped on it." She said. The cut was starting to throb now. "Get it out!"

"Ok, hold still." He said.

"Oh God, wait! Wait don't do it yet!" She said, slightly panicked, tugging her foot away. He held her ankle in a firm yet gentle grip.

"Ok. Ok, relax." He said in a calmer voice.

"How can I relax with my foot almost severed?!" She said.

"Your foot is not almost severed, just calm down and let me get it." He said.

Again she tried to pull her foot away, afraid that he would pull it out before she was ready, but he held her steady.

"Ok, Ok, I'm calm." She said. "Just get it already."

Dean reached over to the toilet paper holder and pulled off a generous wad of paper. Rachel layed down on the floor and covered her face in her hands. Bracing herself for the sharp pain she was sure to feel.

She felt his fingers on the sole of her foot next to the glass. She squeezed her eyes shut but before she knew it he spoke.

"Ok, it's out." He said.

"It is?" She said in surprise as she opened her eyes.

She sat up just as he was placing the bloody glass in the wad of paper. It was at least an inch in diameter. Scary, but not fatal. Dean reached for more paper and blotted the blood away from her foot. She felt her face heat up in embarrassment. She'd acted like a baby.

"I'm sorry." She said.

He looked at her and frowned.

"Don't apologize. I'm sure it hurt." He said as he finished swabbing the blood away.

All of a sudden she felt more then imbarrest. She became very aware of his fingers around her ankle, his close proximity, the heat she suddenly felt in her stomach. She sat up a little more and eased her foot from his grasp.

"Thanks." She said softly as she pulled herself to a sitting position in front of him. She looked up at him then and caught his eyes. He was too close.

"Your welcome." He said just as softly, his expression serious. She became aware at that second that he was feeling the tension just as much as she was at the moment. "Are you ok?"

She took a deep breath, when she exhaled she wondered if he felt it on his skin. The thought excited her and she hoped that he had.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said. Her eyes traveled to his lips then.

Full and pouty and delicious she bet. Would it be so bad to kiss him? Just once? Just to get it out of her system?

"We should get to bed." He said, still holding her gaze.

She felt the pull to him stronger then she ever had at that point. God she wanted him so bad. Please kiss me. She thought.

"Yeah, we should." Was what she said.

He moved in closer to her, her heart began pounding in her chest.

"Ok." He said.

She inched closer to him.

"Ok." She said.

His mouth found hers just then. His lips pressed to hers so softly that she wasn't sure that it was actually happening. Then he pressed a little harder and she was sure. She responded to him and kissed back. The release felt amazing. To give into it finally was intoxicating.

His lips tasted just as good as she thought they would. She wanted more. She deepened the kiss by opening her lips and he responded, slanting his mouth against hers he kissed her harder.  
He was an amazing kisser. She knew he would be. Before she knew how they got that way, she realized that his arms were around her and that she had her hands on him. One on his shoulder and the other pressed to the nape of his neck, pulling him closer.

Something in her head said stop. Stop it now. You've gone too far. The feeling of his tongue seeking hers out pushed it aside. She reveled in the taste of him, his musky scent filled her nostrils and she thought she'd drown in the billions of buzzing senses that attacked her.

He held her closer as he kissed her even harder, her breasts where all but pressed against the wall of his chest. She sucked gently on his lower lip and he seemed to like that. A lot, based on the small sound that escaped him.

He leaned into her and she began to fall back against the floor. She didn't resist.

It was then that sanity crept back in. Rational thought broke through the haze of passion as she realized that if she let him lay her down here on the bathroom floor, there was nothing that would stop her from letting him make love to here right there.

She broke their kiss and with a hand on his chest gently pushed him back.

"Dean wait." She said.

He pulled back immediately. He didn't let her go, but he did as he was told.

They locked eyes again and something passed between them that Rachel didn't recognize. Something powerful and deep. She shook it off.

"I'm sorry. I can't do this." She said.

He pulled away even more, sitting back on his heels and taking his arms back from around her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." He said.

"Don't apologize." She said. She meant it too. Him apologizing was just not right to her. Their kiss had felt amazing and to hear him be sorry about it was just not something that she was ok with.

"I-" she started. Not sure what to say. "I'm just not ready for this. My sister- I just can't."

He shook his head slightly. She was surprised at that.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing." He said.

"No." She insisted. "I want to know what you were just thinking, spill it."

"No. Not my business." He said. "C'mon. Let's go to bed."

"Winchester, you better tell me right now or I'm gonna shove that shard in your eye." She said. Amazed that she could be so hostile with him after just being so intimate.

"Ok, I'm not going to pretend to know her, and I understand feeling pain for your family, But she's been gone, what? 10, 11 months?" He asked.

"A year." She said. Surprised that she was letting him talk about it. "A year last Saturday."

"Do you really think that Kelly would want to be used as an excuse like this." He said. "As a reason to not live anymore?"

Anger spread in her chest. Who was he to judge her like that?

"Your right." She said. "You don't know anything about it. Or her."

She stood up and walked past him into the bedroom. The pain in cut foot slicing up her calf.

"Rachel." He called after her.

She sat on her bed and pulled socks out of her bag. She was pulling them on as she listened to him.

"If you didn't want to kiss me then you shouldn't have." He said. "But I was tired of trying not to kiss YOU because of all this. Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to do that?"

Despite herself she felt the anger melt away. She still didn't look at him but continues to shove her foot into the sock.

"I'm not made of stone damn it." He said.

"Neither am I." She said standing up and looking at him. She spewed it all out before she could stop herself. "You think it's easy to be around you? When Sam called me, everything in me said to say no. Everything in me said to stay away from you, but here I am. Kelly can't be too much of a hindrance if I'm here, can she?"

She didn't realize how true the words were until she spoke them.

"I take back my apology." He said.

She frowned. "What?" She asked.

"I said I take it back." He said. "I'm not sorry I kissed you, and if you let me I would like to do it again."

She felt her guard go up instantly.

"Don't do this to me." She said almost too pleadingly. "Don't think that I didn't enjoy it and trust me, I want to kiss you again so bad I ache right now, but I just can't Dean."

He walked to her then, holding her eyes the whole time.

"I'm too messed up. You don't understand what a messed up, crazy freak I am right now." She said. "If you understood you'd run screaming in the other direction right now."

He came to a stop 6 inches away from her. She wanted to move back but found his closeness comforting instead of intruding. The thought scared her. He touched his forehead to hers and she closed her eyes to find her will power.

"I'm just going to kiss you good night. Ok?" He asked.

After a second of thought, she nodded.

He tilted her head up with a finger under her chin and pressed his lips to hers lightly. He pulled away too soon for her and began to back away.

"Good night you crazy, messed up freak." He said as he reached for the light switch on the lamp. "Maybe tomorrow you won't be able to resist me."

She narrowed her eyes at him. He could sure mess up a moment.

"It must feel great to be that cocky." She said.

"Oh it does." He said and flashed her that billion dollar smile.

In the dark, under the covers, listening to him snore in the next bed, that smile was all she could think of. That and the fact that she didn't feel as terrible and self loathing for kissing him as she thought she would have.

Nevertheless, she drifted off to sleep with the thought that when this hunt was over, the best thing to do would be to stay away from him for good.


	8. Chapter 8

Dean woke before Rachel the next morning. He decided to let her sleep a bit later, considering he'd completely rocked her world with his kiss last night, and slipped out of the room as quietly as he could.

He spent the next hour and a half getting Steve and Megan back on the road. When they were gone he decided that he needed coffee, and Rachel would probably need some too, so he stopped for some before heading back.

The memory of her lips teased the edge of his brain as he drove back. God, how he'd wanted to keep going. He told himself that he'd stopped because he'd wanted to but the truth was that he'd stopped because he knew that he would cause her more pain then not if he continued. And for the life of him, why he cared so much was beyond his understanding. If he wanted a woman, he got her. Why was she different?

He told himself that it was because she was his partner, a hunter like him, and that she deserved more respect then how he treated the women he usually dealt with, but deep down inside he knew that that was bullshit too.

He walked into the room caring her coffee and found her sitting Indian style on her bed, brushing her long damp hair. The room smelled of coconut and lilac and the air was still slightly moist with what must have been the steam from her shower.

"Morning." He said.

She put the brush down and looked at him soulfully. "Good morning. Please tell me one of those are mine."

"Nope." He answered. "Both mine. Sorry."

She tilted her head at him and smiled. He smiled back and handed her the cup.

He sat on the bed opposite her and they sipped their coffee in silence for a few moments. He guessed she was waiting for him to bring up the gorilla in the room but he didn't know how he should approach it. It was still another few moments before she spoke.

"Dean, listen. About last night-" She started.

"Yeah, it was awesome right?" He said with a slightly goofy grin. He was trying not to make things awkward for her. "But I know, you don't want a repeat. It's you, not me and all that other stuff. Don't sweat it."

She averted her eyes and looked sad for a moment.

"You don't get it." She said in a low tone, her eyes drifting to the cup in her hands.

"Yeah, I get it. Your a crazy bitch and I make you crazier." He said.

She looked up at him, her expression serious "You definitely make me crazy."

They held each other's gaze intensely then. God, how bad he wanted to go over there to her and-...But, no. He wouldn't.

"Just for the record, you make me crazy too." He said.

Silence reigned again for the next few seconds. And again they went to drinking coffee as the sat in it.

"We have to save this conversation for another time. I think I know what we're dealing with." She said.

His interest piqued, they went on to discuss what she'd researched while he was gone.

She told him her theory about a pagan God. Said that it had come to her in her sleep when she was wondering why the people of Burkitsville didn't just kidnap the road travelers and tie them up in the orchard. It didn't fit that they were so nice to them and fed them and that was when it had hit her. They weren't just murdering people, these people were meant to be sacrifices.

If they were sacrifices then a few pieces fell into place. But not all of them, which was why she had made the appointment with the college professor that they had talked about last night. They had a little over an hour to get there so he can speak with them between classes. They discussed what they needed to ask him and what to do if they found out nothing of importance.

Dean downed the last of his coffee and stood up. "We'd better get going then."

Rachel shut her laptop and stood up as well. He walked over to the dresser to gather his wallet and keys. He had just finished slipping the wallet into the back pocket of his jeans when he felt her hand on his shoulder. He turned and found her closer to him then he'd expected.

Before he knew what was happening, she leaned up on her tip toes and pressed her lips to his. He had a moment of initial shock, but once he realized what was happening he pushed it aside and kissed her back.

Slipping his arms around her, he pulled her close. She responded to him, kissing him back gently, sweetly.

The smell of her coconut shampoo filled his nose as he worked his mouth over hers. He felt his body respond to this amazing, unexpected kiss but before it could deepen into real arousal she softened the kiss and brought it to an end.

Still holding each other, she pulled her head back and looked into his eyes. "I WANTED to kiss you last night, Dean. Don't think that I didn't."

He stared at her in bewilderment, trying to analyze her through her eyes. They were still in their kissing embrace so her face was still very close to his.

He truly didn't know what to make of her. One minute he was sure he was doing her and her freaked out psyche a favor by trying, with everything he had in him, to not make things go to far, even though it was obvious that he wouldn't have to try too hard to get her into bed, and the next minute she was making that task almost IMPOSSIBLE for him by initiating a kiss.

"We've got to go." She said, she said after a long moment.

"This isn't over." He said, not willing to let her go just yet.

"It has to be." She said, looking into his eyes. He knew she meant it. That maybe this kiss was just her trying to get what started last night out of her system so that she can be done with this whole business between them for good. He had to admit that the idea disappointed him a little.

They held their gaze for another few seconds before they slipped from each others embrace. She scoped up her lap top and headed out the door.

"I'll be in the car." She said and slipped out into the bright morning sunlight.

Dean watched her and followed a second later, wondering why he could still feel the tingle of her lips on his.

In the car they spoke sporadically about a few more ideas about this case, but nothing to too much importance. Dean was thinking all business again. things changed when Rachel Cell phone rang.

She glanced at it then turned to Dean.

"It's Sam." She said.

Dean felt his heart grow heavy in his chest. Being with Rachel hadn't abolished the scene and argument he'd had with his brother because he knew that he and Sam had to speak soon.

"I'm answering." Rachel said to him, then picked up the call. "Hey Sam."

Listening to her end of the conversation with his brother, Dean felt the guilt finally dive into place.

He knew that he was too hard on Sam. Knew that he expected something of him that he wasn't capable of; being the son Dean thought he should be. Sam and Dad were too much alike and until Dean excepted that, he and Sam were going to have problems like this more often then not. He shouldn't have fought with Sam. Period.

"Dean." Rachel said, pulling him from his thoughts.

He turned to her and saw that she was holding the phone out him.

"Your brother and you need to talk. Here." She said.

"He want's to talk to me?" Dean asked.

"Yes, he does. Don't look so surprised." She said and motioned for him to take the phone again.

Dean took it and held it to his ear.

"Hey Sammy." Dean said. Trying to sound upbeat to let his brother know that he wasn't out for another argument and that this call should be about making up.

"Hey Dean." Sam said in the same tone of voice. Dean was glad that they were on the same page. "How's the hunt going?"

"Awesome. Just friggin awesome." Dean replied sarcastically. "Me and Rachel saved 2 idiots from being shish-ka-bobed last night. Thanks for sending Mustang Sally here to be my side kick by the way" He flashed Rachel a grin and got one in return.

Rachel shifted in her seat, getting on her knees and leaning over the front to reach for something in the back.

"Your welcome." Sam said, Dean could hear the smile in his voice. "Shish-ka-bobed by what?"

Rachel leaning into the back seat gave him a perfect view of her beautiful ass in her snug little jeans. He couldn't help but turn his head and admire it before peaking to Sam again.

She came back to the front and sat right in her seat again, he noticed that she had what looked like an I-pod in her hands, she must have fetched it from her bag. He watched her plug each little head phone bud into each of her ears and press a few buttons on the white little plastic square. He heard the soft thrum of the music as it came on.

She kicked off her tennis shoes and put her feet up onto her seat. bringing her knees up so she could place her forehead on them and shut her eyes.

Instantly, he was thankful to her. She was trying to give him some privacy with his brother. At least as much privacy as you can get while sitting in a car with another person.

Getting back to Sam on the other end, Dean told him the synopsis of what had happened so far Leaving off at the point of getting Steve and Megan back to their car so they could high tail it out of town. Sam listened intently.

"The scarecrow climbed off its cross?" Sam asked when Dean had finished.

"Yeah, I'm tellin' ya. Burkitsville, Indiana. Fun Town."

"So, something must be animating it." Sam Offered "A spirit."

"No, it's more than a spirit. It's a god. A Pagan god, anyway." Dean replied, telling him one of the theories that Rachel had come up with.

"What makes you say that?" Sam asked.

"The annual cycle of its killings? And the fact that the victims are always a man and a woman. Like some kind of fertility right. And you should see the locals. The way they treated this couple. Fattenin' 'em up like a Christmas turkey."

"The last meal. Given to sacrificial victims." Sam said agreeingly.

"Yeah, I'm thinking a ritual sacrifice to appease some Pagan god."

"So, a god possesses the scarecrow... " Sam started

"And the scarecrow takes its sacrifice. And for another year, the crops won't wilt, and disease won't spread." Dean finished

"Do you know which god you're dealing with?"

"No, not yet. Rachel found like 3 that are the top contenders. We're actually on our way to a local community college. We've got an appointment with a professor to try to figure out which one it most likely is. Have to seek out side help you know, Rachel's good, but she's not you Geek-boy."

"Well, you figure out what it is, you can figure out a way to kill it."

"I know no offense to Rachel here, she's a resourceful as she is cute, but I have a feeling that if you were here we wouldn't be needing to go see this professor. I mean, your one with out the paper work right?" Dean said with a chuckle.

Sam was quiet on the other end for a moment. He knew that Sam had caught his true meaning there.

"You know, if you're hinting you need my help, just ask."

"I'm not hinting anything." Dean's mind became a mish mash of all the things that he wanted to say to Sam next. Everything that he'd been thinking about for the last 3 days about where he and his brother stood on their journeys now. He didn't know how to get what he wanted to say out. "Actually, uh—I want you to know….I mean, don't think…."

"Yeah. I'm sorry, too." Sam brothers were silent for a moment. Dean was so thankful to Sam for saying what he was trying to.

"Sam. You were right." Dean said. "You gotta do your own thing. You gotta live your own life."

Now Sam was silent. Dean guessed that he had shocked him good this time.

"Are you serious?" Sam asked.

"You've always known what you want. And you go after it. You stand up to Dad. And you always have. Hell, I wish I—" Dean stopped himself there. He was letting this whole conversation gets the best of him and he had to end it before he and Sam were weeping like 2 little girls on the phone next. But not before he told Sam the most important thing he wanted him to know. "anyway….I admire that about you. I'm proud of you, Sammy."

"I don't even know what to say." Sam said.

"Say you'll take care of yourself." Dean offered.

"I will." Sam said. His voice still holding a bit of a shocked note.

"Call me when you find Dad." Dean Said.

"OK." Sam said. His voice sad now. "Bye, Dean."

Dean ended the call and just drove with his mind in a million different places. He was thankful once again to Rachel for keeping her headphones on and not engaging him in conversation about his heartfelt conversation with his brother. He only wanted to live through that good-bye once today.


	9. Chapter 9

"It's not every day I get a research question on Pagan ideology."

Professor Michael Richardson said as he led Dean and Rachel into his office. It was spacious and airy and had lots of old things, Rachel noticed. The sofa and arm chair in the seating area looked like it was carved in ivory and was upholstered in blue velvet. The word "French Provential" rang in her ears when she looked at it and she thought of her grandmothers house.

The Professors desk was light wood with ornate scrolls rimmed in gold. It's dark polish looked aged and gave you the impression that a king may have sat behind before it found it's way into the college professors office.

Rachel looked around and drank in the old paintings and worn leather volumes on the book shelves. There was even a freestanding globe of the world standing in a table frame that Rachel was sure she had never seen in real life but only on tv when watching rich people portryed in their studies.

"Yeah, well, call it a hobby." Dean said crudely, warrenting a frown from the teacher.

Rachel gave him a poke in the ribs with her elbow before smiling. "What Dean here means is that ever since we took Mr. Mundy's class on symbolism last fall we just can't seem to get enough of it. We wanted to see you to because we found that the symbolism of ideology throughout history is facinating and we were hoping you may have some volumes on the local stuff that wouldn't be on the internet."

The professor seemed happy with that, nodded his head and turned toward a table in the corner that had some book open on it already.

Rachel gave Dean the evil eye as soon as Dr. Richardson turned his back as if to say "What's the matter with you?"

He gave her a dumb shrug in return before they walked to the table where the teahcer was, leafing through pages.

_Thank God Sam asked me to come. _Rachel thought. _Cute ass and an amazing kisser, but Johnny Stealth he is not._

"But why local lore?" Professor Richardson asked when they'd joined him at the table. "Indiana isn't really known for its Pagan worship, I'm affraid."

"Well, what if it was imported? You know, like the Pilgrims brought their religion over. Wasn't a lot of this area settled by immigrants?" Dean asked.

"Well, yeah." The professor nodded.

"Like that town near here, Burkitsville. Where are their ancestors from?"

"Uh, northern Europe, I believe, Scandinavia."

"What could you tell us about those Pagan gods?"

"Well, there are hundreds of Norse gods and goddesses."

"We're actually looking for one." Rachel interjected. "Might live in an orchard."

The Professors brow nit together. "Woods god, hm?" He said to himself more then to them and opened a heavy volume ontop of the other other books already scattered on the table. "Well, let's see."

He leafed through some pages. After the 5th or 6th one a scene of the field cought Rachels eye, but Dean spoke up before she could, obviously seeing the same thing she had.

"Wait, wait, wait. What's that one?" He said.

"Oh, that's not a woods god, per se." The Professor said.

Dean leaned over the volume and begane to read the passage next to the drawn picture of farmers harvesting a field under the watch of a limp life size rag doll tethered to a wooden spike in the ground. Rachel tilted her head and read over his shoulder.

"The Vanir?" Rachel said looking up at the Professor to be sure she had the correct pronunciation. The Professor nodded his head and looked back down at the volume. Dean began reading out loud.

"The Vanir were Norse gods of protection and prosperity, keeping the local settlements safe from harm. Some villages built effigies of the Vanir in their fields. Other villages practiced human sacrifice. One male, and one female." Dean stood to his full height again and looked Rachel, pointing to the picture of the rag doll. "Kind of looks like a scarecrow, huh?"

Their eyes met in understanding and said to eachother what they couldn't say out loud at the moment, which was 'Bingo. That's it.'

"This particular Vanir that's energy sprung from the sacred tree." The Professor said. "Pagans believed all sorts of things were infused with magic."

"So what would happen if the sacred tree was torched?" Rachel asked breaking her eye contact with Dean to look again at the Profesoor. "You think it'd kill the god?"

"You both realize tha these are just legends we're discussing, right?" Was his reply.

"Oh, of course." Dean said immediately. Rachel got the sense that he felt too that they'd gotten all they could from the Professor with out him thinking they were totally insane and that it was time to go. "Listen, thank you very much." Dean continued and shook the older mans hand. Rachel did the same.

"Glad I could help." The Professor said began to show them the door.

Dean reached it first and opened it. Before Rachel could even register the fact that the Sheriff was standing on the other side of it fully, Dean went down like a bag of hay at her feet from the blow to the head delivered by the Sheriff's rifle end.

Rachel looked up and balled her fist, prepared to fight her way out, but the shock of being taken so completely unaware delayed her reaction just enough to allow the Sheriff have the upper hand on her as well.

The fist to her temple sent pain shooting through her head and blackend her world. She collaped on the floor right next to where Dean had fallen.


	10. Chapter 10

When Rachel woke it was to the loudest noise she'd ever heard in her life. The BANG BANG BANG shot through her skull like lightning and made her eye balls throb within their sockets.

Before she could even open her eyes her first thought was _Oh God, please stop. My head is going to split open. _

BANG BANG BANG.

She parted her lids a fraction and was thankful that there wasn't too much light to seep through them to add to the agony of her skull breaking apart. She became awareof the fact that she was laying on her side on a hard, cold surface. The chill had crept into her bones it seemed. In the next second she became aware of the fact that she couldn't feel her right arm. With a groan she rolled over to her back to release the arm out from under her so that the circulation could begin running through it again and the feeling to restore.

Her groan was masked by another set of BANG BANG BANG. That, coupled with the effort of rolling, sent another shock wave through her head and she raised her left hand, the hand she could feel, to her temple.

The tender bruise she felt there brought it all back to her. The Professors office... about to leave... Dean crashing to the floor unconcious...The Sherrif standing over him...the fist to her head that rendered her unconcious as well.

She opened her eyes fully and tried to register where she was. It was dark but she could make out things around her. Crates marked "COFFEE", "PAPER" and "SUGAR" we piled everywhere. The walls were made of stone and there was an anciant looking boiler in the far corner. The damp, musky smell told her she was underground_. _

BANG BANG BANG.

Rachel looked to the right and saw Dean, standing at the top of a narrow stone stair case, hunched over, thrustng his shoulder against a set of metal cellar doors at the top. The noise was the doors clanging together against their locks, which Dean was trying to break out through to no avail.

Rachel lifted herself up, her head protested but she fought through it and brought herself to up to sit Indian style, holding her head in her hands.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." Dean said, panting.

"Where are we?" Rachel asked hoarsley. He throat felt dry and she wondered how long she had been out.

BANG BANG BANG.

"The basement of Scotty's. I think it's official, I hate that guy." Dean said.

BANG BANG BANG

Agaian Rachel eyes throbed with the sound of Deans efforts.

"Dean, stop. It's obviously not working. We have to figure something else out." Rachel said.

Dean blew out a breath, clearly exhausted and walked down the stairs toward her, rubbing his shoulder.

"What else?." He asked as he sat down next to her and layed his arms on his knee's. "They took both our guns, my two knives, your two knives. Oh, and even that little nail file you keep tucked into your sock. So we definitely can't shoot, stab or manicure our way out."

"We'll fight our way out if we have to." Rachel said quietly, looking off into the distance and ignoring his attempt at being funny. "We can't let them kill us, that's for sure."

"They're not going to kill us. They're going to sacrifice us, which is classier." He said with a big fake smile.

Despite their situation, she couldn't help but smile back. She shook her head and called him an idiot under her breath.

The sat in silence for a few moments. Rachel took the time to really drink in her surroundings. Besides the crates with supplies and the furnace and other stored junk, she didn't see anything that could aid them in getting away before these lunatics came back.

"Ok, Let's just try to figure this out." Rachel said. "What was our next move after we left university?"

"Oh you mean if we hadn't gotten bitch slapped and sucker punched and thrown into this dungeon?" Dean asked.

"Exactly." Rachel said.

Dean was quiet for a moment. Thinking.

"I suppose we would have went to the orchard and found the tree." He said.

"Yeah, good luck with that one." Rachel sneered. "There must be 300 trees in that orchard."

"Yeah but I was thinking that this one must be really old. Maybe migrated with the settlers or something." Dean offered.

Rachel took that into consideration and realized that he might very well be right. Trees got bigger as they aged so the source of the scarecrows power must be the biggest, knobbiest, oldest looking tree there.

"Ok. So how do we get to it now so we can torch it before they decide to classily end our lives?" Rachel said and looked over to Dean.

He looked at her blankly for several moments before shrugging. "I'm working on it."

Before she could respond the cellar doors creaked open, allowing the fading late afternoon light to bathe over them. Rachel and Dean both shot to their feet and stood at the bottom of the staircase. Both hopeing that this was help coming to their rescue.

Instead they were met with the faces of four of their captors. Harley and his wife Stacy, the sherriff and Scotty. The latter two where holding shot guns aimed at them.

"It's time." Stacy said simply.

After being handcuffed behind their backs at gun point. Dean and Rachel were thrown into the back of what seemed like a windowless van. They were both silent as they listened to the voices and shuffling footsteps out side. Soon, the drivers side door of the van was opened, then shut. A second later the engine sprang to life.

"So much for fighting out way out." Dean said to Rachel, who was sitting across from him.

"Yeah well, I wasn't about to start throwning punches with a gun in my face." Rachel said.

They rode in silence for what seemed like forever. In the dark gloom Dean tried to register fear on her face but he saw none. All he saw was her trying to calculate their situation. He admired her for that. For not giving into panic like he felt bubbling inside his belly right now.

"So have we figured out what we're going to do?" He asked.

She gave him a half smile and he felt a little more then panic at that moment. "I'm working on it." She said.

They came to a stop a after about 20 minutes later. _Just enough time to get to the orchard_, Dean thought.

They were escorted from the van and with guns at their backs, forced to walk about 1/3 of the way into the orchard until they came down the path that led to the scarecrow. Dean's heart sank when he saw the vile thing hanging from it's cross, the sinking turned to downrigth fear when he thought of what would happen to them if they couldn't escape.

"Stacy, you do her, Scotty, you cover." The sherriff called out. "Harley get him."

Harley grabbed Dean roughly and pushed him to the ground before a scraggly bush with strong branches. Harly began to tie him to the branches. Looking into the dark twin barrels of the sherriffs shotgun was the only thing stoping Dean from kicking Harley in the groin.

"How many people have you killed, Sheriff?" Dean asked as the twin cut into his wrists. "How much blood is on your hands?"

"We don't kill them." The sheriff said quickly. Like he had probably said in his own head a million times.

"No, but you sure cover up after." Dean taunted. "I mean, how many cars have you hidden, clothes have you buried?"

The sheriff lowered the gun and walked away from him. Dean felt a twinge of satisfaction at knowing that he had hit a nerve. A lot of good it would do him in 30 minutes when he was dead though.

"How you can all sleep at night is beyond me." Rachel said to Stacy. "It's not too late. Let us go, please."

Stacy paused for a brief moment before continuing to tie Rachel to the bush.

"I am so sorry. I really am. But it has to be this way." Stacy said.

"WHY?" Rachel demanded. "These freakin trees and your nice mild weather are worth peoples lives?"

Stacy paused a moment more to finish Rachels binds. She stood fully upright then and looked down at Rachel, making eye contact with the younger woman.

"Try to understand, it's more then that. It's our responsibility. The town needs to be safe." Stacy said.

Rachel narrowed her eyes up at her. In a low tone she simply said: "You disgust me."

Silently the four elder people walked away. Leaveing Dean and Rachel tied to the trees to wait for the murderous scarecrow to come and claim them.

"I hope your apple pie is freakin' worth it!" Dean called before they were fully out of earshot.

"So, what's the plan?" Rachel asked.

"I'm workin' on it." Dean said after a long pause for lack of anything better to say.


	11. Chapter 11

"Can you see?" Dean asked her.

"What?" Rachel asked. "See what?"

"Is he moving yet?" Dean said.

Rachel streched forwad as far as her restaints would allow. Twisting her neck to see down the dark alley to where the scarecrow would be, she hoped, on his post.

"I can't see." She answered, but the momet the words left her mouth she saw a dark shadow move in the bushes too close to her. Panic struck her hard and she cried out. "Oh my God!"

It moved closer, she was aware of Dean stuggling hard against the ropes that tied him in fear as well. "Oh my God!"

The thing moved into view and she was so happy to see the tall figure of Sam in jeans and a light brown carhart jacket that she almost peed herself.

"Dean?" Sam said looking around and seeing his brother.

"Oh! Oh," Dean said. Clearly overjoyed to see his brother. "I take everything back I said. I'm so happy to see you. Come on."

Sam bent over and began to untie Dean. Rachel watched and was so happy that her life would be extended at least a few minutes with Sam to the rescue.

"How'd you get here?" Dean sked.

"I, uh—I stole a car." Sam said as he finished untieing his brothers bonds and moving over to Rachel.

"Haha! That's my boy!" Dean said pulling the last of the ropes off him.

"Sam, keep an eye on that scarecrow. He could come alive any minute." She warned.

Sam tiled his head to look down the alley. She saw his brow furrow under the flop of his sandy hair.

"What scarecrow?"

Panic struck her again as she saw Dean stand up and look toward the post. His eyes widened and he quickly came over and knelt by Rachel, helping Sam to untie her as fast as it could be done.

"We gotta go. NOW." He said.

Finally free, Dean and Sam helped Rachel to her feet and without another word they all began runnig toward the highway. Their eyes alert and scanning with every step.

"Alright, now, this sacred tree you're talking about— " Sam started.

"It's the source of its power." Dean answered.

"So let's find it and burn it." Sam said.

"Not tonight we're not. That thing is loose looking for me and Dean right now." Rachel said.

"She's right." Dean said."Let's just shag ass before Leather Face catches up. We'll come back in the morning"

They reached a clearning and halted in their tracts. Waiting for them, with shot guns raised, were the elders. Their numbers stronger now with a few other townspeople.

"This way." Scotty said. Motioning back the way thay had come.

Sam, Dan and Rachel turned around. Looking for another way out buut they were faced with people with shot guns. Surrounded.

"Please." Rachel said "Let us go."

"It'll be over quickly, I promise." Harley said.

"God, your lucky your holding that shot gun old man." Dean said. His jaw clenched.

"Again, I'm sorry, but you have to let him take you. You have to—"

Harley's words were cut off. He dropped the shot gun and made a gutteral choking sound. A bloody sickle protruded from his stomach. Stacy's scream was blood curdling as she looked at her husband and then behind her.

Rachel watched as she came face to face with the scarecrow. The thing pulled the sickle from the old man, who collapsed to the floor immediately. The evil incarnation grabbed the still screaming Stacy in a choker hold. Then lifted the sickle high in the air and arched it down ward hard. The wickedly sharp thing impaled Harley right through the calf. Rachel was sure she heard a bone crack in half.

Every one but the 3 of them took off. They watched the scarecrown backed away with Stacy still in imprisoned in his arm and Harley being dragged, still alive and weakly struggling, into the gloom and shadows of the trees.

When they were no longer in sight, it was Sam that pulled Dean and Rachel out of stillness of shock of what just happened and made them run.

Rachel heard Stacy screaming right up until she was pushed into the back seat of Sam's stolen car.

They went back to the hotel that Dean and Rachel had shared the night before. After showering quickly Rachel offered to run out and grab something to eat to give the brothers time to talk. Rachel joked that being that close to death worked up an appitite and headed out the door.

She also told herself that the ride would help clear her head from all that had just happened in the orchard. She was half right, it did. But she couldn't think too long about Harley and Stacy getting what they deserved in Rachel and Dean's place. But to her dismay what did fill her thoughts was Dean's kiss the night before.

Until now she hadn't had much time to think about it and let it really sink in before they were out and trying to kill harvest gods. But now, alone in Sam's stolen car it was all she could do not to think about how amazing his lips felt against hers, how hard his chest had felt while he held her close, how drowned in her own senses she'd been while his mouth had been pressed against hers.

She waited for the guilt to set in. It came, but she wasn't slammed hard with it like she was used to. And that cought her off gaurd more then anything.

Tears stung her eyes as the vision of her beautiful blond sister filled her head. Kelly was smiling. Telling her it was ok, that she didn't have to pretend to be dead anymore. That her death wasn't Rachel' fault.

Rachel went through this regularly now. Even in her dreams, the ones where she relived trying to save Kelly and failing, she saw her sister smile at her and tell her it was ok.

But Rachel couldn't let go. Couldn't live and take part in life with this over her head. She hadn't even gone home to face her mother yet. She'd even gone so far as to swap her cell phone out so that she wouldn't see her mothers number pop up any more or be tempted to listen to the messages she left begging her to come home. That it was ok. That it wasn't her fault...that she loved her and that they were all they had left and please,...just come home.

The tears fell from Rachels eyes and she had to pull over to the curb. She switched the car into park, put both hands over her face and sobbed. She didn't cry because of the overwhelming emotion, she didn't cry because of guilt, she didn't cry because she missed her mother or her sister for that fact.

She cried because she wasn't riddled with guilt while thinking of all these things.

The usually overbearring feeling of all those sensations where enough to crush her when she thought about them. Especially under a scenario of doing something like giving in to kissing someone she'd been wanting for a long time. What got her right now was the fact that those crushing feelings she'd been acustomed to for more then a year now were all so muted.

She was crying because she felt better. Rachel sat in the car and tried to understand it all. How could kissing Dean NOT make her want to jump off a bridge right now?

_Because it was amazing and you needed it and you wanted it and it was ok to have it. _Her psyche responded with the voice of her sister.

_Ok, Rach. Now you've really gona nuts. _Rachel said to herself. In that moment she knew that regardless of everything, she needed to finish the hunt tomorrow, and put distance between herself and the Winchesters, again, to figure it all out.

She didn't need the distraction of mind blowing kisses that could lead to more at the moment.

She returned with fast food and ate with Sam and Dean. Dean didn't notice that she kept staring at him while he wasn't looking, trying to figure out in more depth the epiphany she'd had in the car.

Sam noticed her looking at his brother though. She cought him smiling and shaking his head amusadly more then once.

Rachel passed out on the couch from sheer exhaustion soon after. She didn't know it at the time, but the blanket that she woke covered with the next morning, Dean had been the one to drape over her while she dreamt.

The next mornig they drove to the orchard after a quick stop at the gas station to fill 2 gas cans. In the cool morning sunlight they split up and seached the ground for the tree.

It was Sam that found it. A quick cell phone call to her and Dean gathered them before the tall, knobby, ancient looking tree.

"Are we sure this is it?" Dean asked.

"This is it." Rachel said and pointed to a dark marking low on the trunk; Vince's Tattoo.

Without another word the brothers began pouring the gasoline over the tree. Rachel lit the match that sent it up in flames when they were done.

Back at the Motel, they broke down the room (gathered hex bags, cleaned salt from the windowsills) so that they could be on their way.

They had decided that Rachel would be safe taking the car that Sam had swiped back to get her own car a state over. Since he'd come from the west, it wasn't likely anyone was looking for it this far east. Dean was out side checking it for lo-jack or any other device that the car might be tracked with while Sam and Rachel finished packing their things. She made a mental note to ditch the car at least 5 miles from where her baby was waiting for her. Just to be safe.

She gathered the last of her things and said goodbye to Sam.

"You ever need to call me again when you and your wife have an argument" She said, extracting a chuckle from Sam. "Do me a favor? Don't."

"You got it Rach." Said said in his usual soft tone with that sweet crooked smile of his. "I owe you one."

She got up on her tippy toes and gave him a hug. "You don't owe me anything." She said looking up at him when they separated. "You saved my life back there. I owe you."

He just smiled at her and she smiled back. "Be safe." He said.

She shouldered her duffle and headed out to where the ugly, tan colored Gran Prix was parked. Upon looking at it in full daylight she was sure no one would be looking for the dinosaur and it's owner was probably singing Sam's praises for taking it in the first place.

As she neared it she saw Dean under the hood, tinkering with something. She couldn't help but notice the definition of his shoulders under his shirt and he hunched over. And not to mention that ass of his. She smiled and let her self admire the complete male hotness of him for a second before opening the backseat to toss her bag into.

He noticed her just then and stood up.

"Ok, your all set." He said, still looking at the engine, which he had running. "There was no tracking system but I fixed that freaking rattling noise that would have driven you crazy for the next 150 miles." He said. Then looked up her and smiled.

She shut the rear door and walked over to him. "Since when do you care so much about my mental health?" She asked with a smirk.

He stared blankly at her for a second then said "Fine. I can put it right back the way it was before." He said with a slight shrug and bent over again toward the engine.

"No! No, leave it." She said laughing and grabbing his arm to pull him back up.

He closed the hood wiped his hand on a rag he'd had thrown over his shoulder. Rachel hopped up on the hood.

"I didn't know you were so good with cars." She said.

"My dad was a machanic before...this life." He said. "He taught me every thing I know.

"Speaking of your dad." Rachel said. "You gonna head to Cali to try to find him like Sam wants to?"

Dean looked down at the ground. "I think Sam's over that for the moment actually. I think we're just gonna hit the road and work. Dad'll be found when he want's to be found." Dean said. "What about you? Where you headed?"

Rachel took a deep breath and exhaled it. Squinting in the bright sunlight she looked at him and answered honestly. "I think I'm gonna do the same. But to tell you the truth, I think I'm feeling home soon."

Dean raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Home? Really?" He asked. "I thought you were still too much of a basketcase for that."

"I am." She said. "But I think that I'm starting to deal. Which is why I'm gonna hit the road for just a bit longer. Figure it out."

"So seriously, it was me wasn't it?" He asked smiling. Always the joker but not really knowing how on the money he was at the moment. "Kissing me gave you new lease on life and made you forget anything else that could ever trouble you."

She smiled and shook her head while he spoke. Knowing that times like right now, besides her physical attraction to him, was the reason she found him so alluring.

"It was the most amazing thing ever. It's ok, you don't have to thank me." He said with one final little wink at her.

"Your absolutely right. Kissing you could lead to world peace I bet." She said with a smile. "You should find and kiss Sadaam Hussein. You'd be doing the world a favor."

His smile was wiped off his face. "The middle eastern dude with the big mustach and unibrow?" He asked.

"That's him." She informed.

"Yeah, I don't think so." He said with a chuckle.

"Would you settle for me once more then?" She asked before she could stop herself.

"I was hoping that's how we could say goodbye." He said.

The moment hung in the air around them. She grabbed a fist full of the front of his shirt and pulled him close.

She pressed her lips softly to his. He kissed her back gently at first then a bit hungrier when her lips and body language demanded it.

She put her arms around his neck and he moved closer to her, wraping his arms around her slender waist and settling his hips between her thighs where she sat on the hood of the car. Their kiss deepening as they pressed their bodies closer to eachother, belly to belly, chest to chest.

Rachel was completely lost in him for that moment. The way his body felt against hers, his scent, her want for him as he massaged her lips with his own in what she was sure was the hottest kiss she'd ever expirienced.

For the first time in over a year letting herself enjoy something of being alive. If she was going to begin to heal, she was glad that it started here, wrapped tight in Dean's arms with his mouth pressed against hers in a fiery, passionate kiss.

When they pulled away from eachother they were both a bit breathless. She looked up into beautiful hazel eyes and found herself wanting him so bad right at that moment.

Their kiss on the bathroom floor had been amazing. But unlike now, she had been cought off gaurd with it at the time. She was almost sure that if this kiss had been that one, that she would have let him make love to her that night. Thanks God for small favors.

"I'll see you out there." She said, still holding him.

"Count on it." He said, not letting her go either quite yet.

They looked at eachother for a few more seconds before they parted. He backed up slightly and she hopped off the hood.

She walked around to the drivers side and got behind the wheel. She put the car into gear and backed out. Giving him one last smile before pulling away.

On the highway a few moments later, she thought about it all and felt contentment mixed with guilt.

Yeah. It was almost time to go home. But not quite yet.

AUTHORS NOTE:

Hey every one. Another one done and it only took me longer then I would have ever wanted to...lol. I want to say a very heart felt thank you to my fans who stuck with me throught this long process. Thank you for sticking with me even in the loooooong periods between updates and thank you for your periodical kick in the butt via message to get the next chapter up.

Just so you all know, it's not that I keep you waiting for the fun of it, very much the opposite. I love writing about Dean and Rachel and I have about 30 more stories about them in my head right up until present day in season 6. But I'm a wife and a mom and run my own business from home, so getting time to sit and write about my lovers is harder for me then most people. But I promise that for those of you that want to stick with me through the next few that Dean and Rachel will be making some big steps soon. I'm working on the first chapter of the next one right now and it'll be up soon.

Until then, thank you again for all your support and feedback. See you all out there!

Liz.


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